Guyana required to pay U.S. lawyers in extradition cases

Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, 22:33 by Writer

Guyana is required to pay the United States (U.S.)-appointed prosecutors in cases where other countries require the extradition of Guyanese from Guyana to face criminal trials.

The section of the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual titled “the consular role in international extradition” states that “Most extradition treaties require the costs of extradition proceedings (other than translation of documents and costs associated with the transfer of the fugitive) to be borne by the requested country.”

The issue has been raised with the surfacing of a document showing that Guyana has to pay more than US$60,000 to the U.S.-appointed Jamaican and Guyanese lawyers in the extradition cases against Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed.

That is in contrast to Article 13 of the United Kingdom-United States Extradition Treaty that Guyana inherited at the time of independence from Britain in 1966 which states that “All expenses connected with the extradition shall be borne by the High Contracting Party making the application.”

According to that Treaty, it would mean that the U.S. should have been paying the legal fees. The Ministry of Home Affairs earlier on Tuesday removed the Treaty from its website.

However, Demerara Waves Online News was told that the common practice is for countries from which the extraditable person is a citizen to pay the legal fees to lawyers that are appointed by the requesting State.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall says Guyana is required to pay lawyers appointed by countries that request the extradition of persons to face trial for crimes, after a document surfaced showing an approved payment of US$62,558.78 to Jamaican lawyer Terrence Williams.

Similarly, he said when Guyana had requested the extradition of Guyana-born American citizen Marcus Bisram for murder, the U.S. had paid for lawyers to represent Guyana in a U.S. court.

According to a purported Guyana Police Force (GPF) Finance Office document to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Williams and colleague lawyers Herbert McKenzie and Celine Deidrick were hired to represent the GPF because “they are renowned in the Caribbean, more particularly in Jamaica for their work in cases of similar nature.”

Mr Nandlall said Guyana opted to select foreign lawyers, with the U.S.’ approval, in the case of the Mohameds to remove perceptions of bias. “In this case, because we wanted to insulate the process from the allegation of political interference, lawyers from outside of Guyana were brought in with the approval of the U.S. government,” the Attorney General said in an interview by a government information officer. “Yes, the government of Guyana has to pay for that and anybody can challenge me and call around the Caribbean or anywhere else and find out if that is not the usual practice,” he said.

During and after this year’s election campaign, Mr Mohamed was scathingly attacked by the People’s Progressive Party Civic after he decided to form a political party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), and contest the polls.

WIN won 16 seats and Mr Mohamed is tipped to become Guyana’s next Opposition Leader but the House Speaker Manzoor Nadir is yet to summon a constitutionally required meeting of opposition members of parliament to elect him.

He dismissed suggestions from some quarters that Portugal-based Guyanese lawyer, Glenn Hanoman, was added to the legal team because he was allegedly associated with the PPPC.

Mr Mohamed and his father are wanted in the U.S. to face trial for an 11-count grand jury indictment on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering linked to their gold trading business. The prosecution’s lawyers told an extradition hearing last month that the Mohameds have ties to Venezuela and the Middle East but Defence Lawyer Roysdale Forde on Monday said he did not see information to back up those allegations in the bundle of documents that were handed over to him and his legal team.